Small Cell Forum calls upon telecoms regulators to enable rapid deployment of dense HetNets for 5G

Industry body lobbies for globally consistent and supportive regulation for small cells

London – October 19th 2016 – Small Cell Forum (SCF) today called upon industry regulators to help build a consistent and supportive regulatory environment for the deployment of dense HetNets worldwide. In the absence of the necessary frameworks to enable next generation network roll-outs, SCF warns that 5G deployments are likely to be significantly impacted.

To support this initiative, SCF is developing different best practice guidelines for states, regulators and municipalities in North America in collaboration with 5G Americas, in Latin America in collaboration with the GSMA, and through working with leading carriers in the Middle East and Asia.

In Europe, SCF is preparing responses to the UK Digital Economy Bill, which is currently before the Public Bill Committee and closely following the review of the European telecom framework, the Electronic Communication Code that contains regulatory proposals aimed to facilitate the deployment and operation of small cells. SCF aims to disseminate best practice to all stakeholders and help drive global alignment.

At the same time, SCF is continuing to urge national governments to strengthen deployment provision in support of the societal and commercial benefits associated with enhanced connectivity.

“While the air interface continues to dominate industry discussion, the biggest challenges in rolling out the dense networks associated with 5G lie in the underlying network architecture and fragmented and outdated national regulatory frameworks,” said David Orloff, Chair of Small Cell Forum. “We are actively engaged in defining operator and vendor priorities for bringing interoperability and consistency to the enabling technologies that will be the foundations for 5G networks. At the same time, it is critical that the industry works in conjunction with regulatory bodies to create an environment in which these networks can be swiftly and cost-effectively deployed.”

SCF believes that dense HetNets represent a fundamental shift in telecoms infrastructure, providing the underlying communications backbone for pervasive and robust connectivity, and more efficient utilization of spectrum and network resources.

Small Cell Forum works to drive the wide-scale adoption of small cells and accelerate the delivery of integrated HetNets. Our work program is organized around two main streams – Deploying hyperdense HetNets and Enabling digitized Enterprise. These tie together all the Forum’s projects across the HetNet and create a powerful framework for the transition to 5G.

We are a carrier-led organization. This means our operator members establish requirements that drive the activities and outputs of our technical groups.

Today our members are driving solutions that include small cell/Wi-Fi integration, SON evolution, virtualization of the small cell layer, driving mass adoption via multi-operator neutral host, ensuring a common approach to service APIs to drive commercialization and the integration of small cells into 5G standards evolution.